We play lots of different games. Car cricket, spot this or talk about different things. We often plan holidays or adventures with kids.

Reading is a good idea if your child does not get car sick.

Singing together and I Spy is great.

Unfortunately for us electronics is king – I figure while we’re away they won’t be in use anyway, so why not? It’s their vacation too, and what is vacation but an excuse to do all the naughty stuff :p

We also live 5 hours from our specialist hospital visits plus we drive from Qld to SA every 2 years so I understand! A few things we have done other than electronic tablets for movies and games are: we have old Stable Tables, they are brilliant because the kids can play all sorts of games, colour in, do activity books, playdoh etc and nothing falls off because of the rim. We pack a different activity bag in their little backpacks with items from the $2 shop and it’s like Christmas for them every time! In the pack is also a selection of healthy snacks so they feel in control of their trip and eating also passes sometime.It’s a picnic in the car.

My 2 daughters love eye spy, they are 3 and 10. We have different variation for the 3 year old but is always a laugh.

I bought the whole collection of Dr Who as we are fan’s on cd audio and we love our Sunday drives to great destinations listening and watch the scenery. We have a few other cd’s like The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events Book One) by Lemony Snicket, read by Tim Curry.T he Book Thief by Markus Zusak, read by Allan CorduneThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, How to Train Your Dragon (and the rest of the series) by Cressida Cowell, read by David Tennant, The Roald Dahl Audio Collection, read by the author. You may borrow these from your local library for free. Get you daughter to pick them for you to listen to. She will feel very grown up. Having the DVD to watch will make a difference to the story telling and you can see the differences and discuss them as you hear them. Happy travels. Good health and peace to you all. Happy New Year!

Loom bands, my 2 daughters love them for long car trips. Or friendship bracelets

We always play I spy, sing along to songs, we create our own stories by each of us taking turns to add a new bit, we also like to see who can spot selected items first such as “first to spot a red car” etc.

You can buy magnetic books with magnets that make pictures or even have words that you can just change around. Start a story where you each have to say one sentence so for example “Once upon a time there was a frog” and then she has to say a sentence. It goes back and forth for ages and always ends up silly!

Thanks for these ideas guys she really is great at travelling, but we live 5 hours from the city and have done and still have a lot of trips to do for medical appointments for me so any ideas that pass the time, that are different and educational is a super added bonus.

Portable DVD player, ear phones and movies ( ones your child hasn’t seen so they will watch it all), some of their favourite toys and more importantly talk to her about any and everything. Maybe if you have a device with Internet connection you could get her to look at interesting places to visit at your destination

Make a game of car bingo on the computer and print it off with things to find like phone box or letter box a dog etc when they find a row it is bingo when they find all items.they win. We got given one but it was american and hard to find some things but was fantastic

play games, re-cite maths questions, get them a fold down travel table and that gives them more options. my kids are just happy to be in the car so that’s entertaining to them lol. i will be back when i can think of some more

Listening to music is always fun, puzzle books, reading ( if you don’t get motion sickness), I spy is always interesting.

reading in the car is good but can cause motion sickness
sing a longs are great unless you have a headache
creating stories 1 line at a time is good but needs 1 other person

So pleased you like the idea of audio books! We choose ones that we all enjoy and we all get involved in; some have songs too. Good fun for everyone in the car!

Thanks so much for these ideas so far, I love the idea of audio books she is so into reading, but looking down and reading doesn’t always go well with car travel for her, so audio books could be a good answer.

I spy, sing, colouring books or puzzle books.

Sing songs, play I spy, this can be done with guess the colour of objects. Quiz games are fun. Ask the names of relatives and who is married to who and who are the children in each family if you have a large family this is very educational and getting to know the family relationships. Also ask what towns these relatives live in, ask and teach about ancestors, there may be some really interesting stories.
Tell a never ending story, each person contributes to the story in turn it is a lot of fun as it changes direction to suit each person playing. Match towns and cities with Rivers, mountains etc. Add a little history about places. These educational history and geographic lessons can begin before you set out, go over with a map or google for as much information about where you are going and towns passing through. Make some notes and you are ready for quiz times.